The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has found over N675.1m in
the bank accounts of some top Independent National Electoral Commission
officials in Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta states.

According to the agency, the money was received and shared by the officials during the last elections.

EFCC has started taking action already. Sources say the Resident
Electoral Commissioner in the 2015 election in Rivers State, Mrs. Gesila
Khan and other officials of INEC have been detained.

Mrs Khan was quizzed by the Department of State Services in July last year but was later released.

Punch reports that Mrs. Khan and four others were arrested on Thursday,
by the zonal office of the EFCC in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State
capital.

The residences of all the suspects were subsequently searched and
incriminating documents were said to have been recovered by the
commission.

According to impeccable sources at EFCC, Mrs Khan, who is now the REC in
Cross River State, allegedly got N185.8m ahead of the March 28 and
April 11, 2015 elections.

A source at the EFCC, who did not want his name in print, said Khan had
made confessional statements and was cooperating with the commission.

He said that Khan received the Millions through a special bank account
and the commission had received some overwhelming evidences.

He said, “Khan was the REC in Rivers State in 2015 election before she
was transferred to Cross River early this year. She was said to have
received N185.8m. She has made confessional statements.”

EFCC also arrested one Edem Okon Essanga, who is a retired INEC
official. Essanga was arrested along with his alleged accomplice,
Immaculata Asuquo, the Head, Voter Education, INEC, Akwa Ibom State.

Essanga was alleged to have received over N240m which he shared among INEC ad hoc workers during the last election.

“Essanga received N241.1m during the general election. He admitted
receiving the money and confirmed sharing it with different ad hoc
workers during the election. His accomplice Asuquo has also been
arrested,” the source added.

The source also disclosed that the EFCC had arrested one Fidelia Omoile
who was the INEC electoral officer in Isoko-South Local Government Area,
Delta State.

Apart from tracing over N112m to her, the commission also recovered some
sensitive electoral materials during a search of her apartments in Edo
and Delta states.

“She received N112.4m during the 2015 general election. A search warrant
was executed at her residences in Asaba and Benin. Sensitive materials
used in the 2015 elections were recovered, including evidence of the
suspicious bank transaction and land documents that will assist us in
our investigations,” the source said.

The commission also arrested one Oluchi Obi Brown who was the INEC
administrative secretary in Delta State. She allegedly received over
N111m.

Further investigations revealed that Brown had about $75,000 in an account in the United States.

“Oluchi received N111.5m during the general election. Investigations
showed that she operates a foreign account with the Bank of America. As
of February this year, the account balance was $75,857, (N24, 274,240),”
the source added.

The sum total of the money found in the bank accounts of the INEC officials is N675.1million.

Asked if the anti-graft agency had recovered any funds, the source said
efforts were being made to recover the funds in Nigeria and abroad, then
prosecution will follow.